Bottomline
The 2010 Fox 36 TALAS FIT RC2 is an excellent fork, with some nicely engineered functionality, and plethora of features. The TALAS itself is a great feature, and the ability to change between 160, 130 or 100mm of travel on the fly makes it very useful. The adjustments via the air pressure, and especially the high and low settings allow tuning for a large breadth of riders and terrain. The TALAS is a well built fork, that could take any abuse plowed at it. It remained composed no matter what the terrain, allowing for great control and stability. The stout legs, beefy crown/arch and 20mm axle made for a stiff and stable platform. The wonderful mid plushness and big hit abilities were high appreciated, giving one the feeling of floating over obstacles.

I had a minor quibble with the darn air cap immersed deeply in the TALAS knob, but a major gripe was an inability to extract anywhere near 160mm of travel?

All things considered, the 2010 Fox 36 TALAS FIT RC2 would be an excellent fork on any All Mountain rig!

Brian has been part of the Mtbr team since 2007, where he has become an integral member of the review and test staff, specializing in technical articles. He likes to push the limits in all the sports he obsesses in, whether it's mountain biking, whitewater kayaking, extreme skiing, or sport climbing. He takes those same strengths and a good dose of insanity to his reviewing and writing on mountain biking products, creating technical, in-depth and hyperbolic articles. Whenever he's not on the bike, he might be found watching MotoGP racing, otherwise look for him out on extremely technical singletrack.

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How could the qr20 be complicated? Thread in the axle, flip two levers… done. You failed to mention the advantage of the guides built into the lowers for the hub. The fork just slides onto the hub in perfect position and sits on it, waiting to thread the axle through. No having to snake the axle into the fork, through the hub, out the other side, sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t…

Elsinore:
I no longer have access to the fork, so I will try it at Sea Otter or my LBS, thanks for the tip, hope it helps!

Matt:
I have used quite a few 20mm and 15mm systems, and rarely use 9mm anymore. I found that the hub did not always line up, but it didn’t requite much snaking like the Manitou. I currently use a 26 and 29 inch Manitou, so I know the system well! My preference is the DT Swiss RWS (my fave) or the RS Maxle. They are both tough as nails and don’t require the silly axle clamps. My job is to be picky!

I have to disagree that the Fox 20mm axle is difficult. I have used it for years, and it is simple, easy and reliable. I don’t worry about stripping anything, I DON’T NEED A TOOL, and nothing sticks out despite my not needing a tool. It is secure and quick. I fail to see the problem. I don’t like Marzocchi’s because the lever sticks out, and the Maxle because it requires a tool.
As for compression, I find it interesting that you said that increasing high speed helped with brake dive. As I understand, brake dive is a function over the low speed compression. HS is the compression circuit that you use on hard hits such as drops. You said that you cranked up the HS, and you also said that you couldn’t get full travel out of the fork. I’m pretty sure those are related. Personally, I run the compression knobs all the way out (after setting sag and rebound), and I will increase the HS one click if I bottom out, a second click if I continue, and so on until I don’t bottom. I really like the LS backed out, but I dial it in to help with brake dive.

Please note I never said brake dive? “Setting the high speed to firm helped alleviate the fork dive on slow speed drops and big hits…”

Low-speed controls the influence of the rider’s weight shifts and bike attitude under braking, while High-speed controls the force it takes to move the fork through its travel and how the wheel reacts to a bump.

I like to take big drops off ledges, and hit squared edged obstacles, so by firming up the high speed it helps the dive that I experienced. With some other forks I would add extra shims in the high speed circuit to prevent the oil from accelerating to fast through the needle ports. The changes I made did not seem to alter the available travel.

I never needed a tool for the Maxle nor the RWS? Just a personal thing, not a big deal.

I have been riding this fork on a SC Nomad for about 6+ Months and concur with most of the details and impressions in this article. One point I would interject is that this fork does feel a bit “notchy” when it’s new, but that can be smoothed out by using some finish line stanchion lube – http://www.finishlineusa.com/products/stanchion-lube.htm

Also, the published air pressures are complete BS.. you have to feel it out over a few test rides to get it right. I used a RS and then a Marz on my bike before this. The Fox really stands out as the best all around shock. You can actually climb steep hills without the front end rising and you don’t have to spend any time winding the travel down like with a Marz TST or a RS coil shock.

My only complaint is that there are so many adjustments that you end up F’n with it for months before you get it right.

Jeez, the air knob placed in the TALAS adjustment is pretty easy to get at, even with gloves and fat fingers. Plus, the double clamp is confidence inspiring, and looks more sturdy and secure than my friends’ Lyriks.

There is a point at which there is too much adjustability, and expectations are that the fork will be perfect for every situation, but there are so many things to compensate for. If you get it set to point that comfortable for 75% of the riding you do, just roll with it. 3/4 of the time you’ve got everything perfect. 25% of the time, you’ll have to live with imperfections. Not bad, in fact, better than most other things in life.

What are you guys like with your cars? I’d love to see a report on how your suspension is dialed in your daily driver.

Air cap – I was informed by a couple of readers that by turning the TALAS to its lowest setting the cap popped up for easy removal. At Sea Otter, I did play around with this tip, and it did pop up somewhat, but I still found it a pain to take off. Might be my old fingers?

20mm axle – At first I complained about the over complicated 20mm Quick Release System, but after speaking with the engineers at Sea Otter, I am altering my viewpoint. I asked them why they didn’t make a system like their 15mm for the 20mm? They inferred that the 15mm was really just morphed up 9mm (to a degree), while the 20mm has a different functionality. By locking down each end of the axle with the clamps, it helps isolate and stabilize the axle for maximum strength and support, something that is required with the longer travel forks.

suspension tweaking – I never played with my trucks suspension, but I have played deeply with my Aprilia Tuono street motorcycle, specially when doing track days. I do tweak my suspension settings depending on terrain.

Sean…Thanks for the kind words. Perhaps a response with your ideas about proper tuning could be shared with the readers instead of ridiculing and belittling me? None of us has all the clues nor answers. The forums, and this website in general, is here to share information and ideas, hopefully in a conciliatory manner.

re: not getting 160mm of travel. I have a 2009 36 Talas RC2 and have the same problem. Bummed to hear the newer model is the same. What gives? I think this fork can’t be considered “excellent” when it doesn’t deliver the stated travel. Fox should address this, or at least explain what you can do to obtain full travel.

I have the 36 talas rc2 2009 too. No way to use 20-30 mm of final travel, even on big drops. I am using HS and LS damper all open (-), put a 5w oil in the fit cartridge instead of 10w density oil, lowered float fluid in order to increase air volume in the talas cartridge, without a result. I am really disappointed with Fox.

I stated “Weak small bump compliance”, not it sucked? Every shock made is not going to be completely linear, it will have certain sections of the travel curve in which it shines, the Fox does excellent on the mid (a predominate area for All Mountain riding). It is rare to ride a fork (properly tuned for all conditions) that will give you full travel, my Manitou Minute w/ Absolute+ does, I have always found Fox to be a tad worse in getting full travel in comparison to some other, it was still a good fork and merited a 4.

Man oh man! This shock is so sweet on paper and then I read these posts lol! Can’t find the last 20-30mm of travel? are you kidding me? I sure as heck hope it’s there and it’s just reserved for 270lb dudes that haven’t smashed it over a 5′ drop yet!!! I mean common! $1,000 shock (FOR A BICYCLE) should always deliver what it says it does! Should I buy a 150mm Rock Shock Revelation Team over this one? Even that RS $500 shock has problems with the U-turn breaking. What the heck is up with these companies stealing our money with poor quality !?!? Reasearching hardcore about a bike basically just keeps you from buying a new one at all! Car shocks, full coilovers, that cost $1,000 for 4 are infinitely better than these darn MTN bike shocks. It’s a joke really. A joke on the consumers. Koni needs to make bike shocks!